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Friday, April 16, 2010

With all the material I'm getting from my 2-year old grandson, I may as well give up my math blog and start a new blog featuring "anecdotes about grandchildren"! I betcha' some of these would go viral like no math article ever would!

Anyway, while I am preparing my next "exciting" video, I decided to share with you what my grandson said to his grandmother (better known as "Mimi" and also known as my wife) this morning.
His mother (my daughter) and grandmother (my wife) took him this morning for his first blood test (for allergies). My daughter needed "Mimi" to hold her son as she thought she would pass out! So, my wife had him sit on her lap. When he realized that the needle was for him, the screaming began and he tried to jump out of "Mimi's" arms. Fortunately the whole procedure took only 30 seconds. My grandson jumped off my wife's lap, wiped his tears away and in a serious tone stated to Mimi, "You're fired!" My wife was stunned, never expecting to be fired from being a grandmother! There's definitely some Donald Trump in that boy.

Of course, a few minutes later all was forgiven and they all lived happily ever after.

I realize grandparents think all their grandchildren are special and anything the children say must be a gem worth repeating a thousand times. But, I do believe this young man is quite a character. By the way, my daughter has no idea where he got the expression "You're fired!" from, unless of course he is watching the Apprentice on the sly!

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SAT Math Tips

ZERO IS A 'WEIRDO'! (W)hole(E)ven(I)nteger(R)Rational/Real(DO) Cannot Divide by O!BUT Zero is NOT Positive and NOT Negative!

POSITIVE INTEGERS start from 1

PRIMES start from 2 (not 1)

INTEGERS can be NEGative (and zero!) as well as positive

MEMORIZE the formula for the nth term of an arithmetic sequence: a(n) = a(1) + (n-1)d.Example: Consider the sequence of positive integers which leave a remainder of 3 when divided by 4. What is the 100th term?Step 1: List the first few terms 3,7,11,15,... to see the pattern and recognize it is an arithmetic sequence.Step 2: Identify the values which are givenFirst term or a(1) = 3Common difference or d = 4Number of terms or position of desired term or n = 100Step 3: Substitute into formula and solvea(100) = a(1) + (100-1)(4) = 3 + (99)(4) = 399

Of course there are other ways to find the 100th term such as 100 x 4 - 1 but the formula is so useful for so many types of questions it is worth learning!

Know the above by heart and you are way ahead of the game! These facts will absolutely be needed on your next SAT or standardized test!

About Me

Recently retired math educator and Supervisor of Mathematics; 30 years experience as an Advanced Placement Calculus (BC) teacher; Former Author of Math Teachers of New Jersey Annual HS Math Contest; Former K-5 Chair of New Jersey Math Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks; Former member of Math Item Review Committee for New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment; Experienced SAT Math Instructor and author of SAT materials; speaker at many regional and national math conferences